Father breaks down door to save daughter from sexual assault, deputies say

AVON PARK (FOX 13) - A Highlands County Winn-Dixie employee is under arrest, charged with luring a girl into a grocery store bathroom and assaulting her.

The Highlands County sheriff says security cameras in the Avon Park store show Timothy Hero leading the 14-year-old girl into back of the store and into the men's room Thursday. They say he sexually assaulted her in a stall.

The girl's father went looking for her and ended up breaking down the door of the stall when he realized what was happening.

Detectives say he had developed a cordial relationship with the girl -- who was described by detectives as "especially vulnerable" compared to most girls her age -- during her family's previous visits to the store.